Golf and Jerk Festival benefits St Ann’s Bay Hospital

CAVANI JAMES, 12 years old, and Tajay Lobban, 21, topped a field of 70-odd golfers on Saturday, June 15, winning top prize at the fourth Sandals Golf and Jerk Festival at Upton Estate Golf and Country Club, giving a thumbs-up to Sandals Foundation’s Care for Kids Junior Golf Programme.

Jonathan Newnham, director, golf operations, Upton Estate, was particularly pleased that James and Lobban, present and former Care For Kids programme mentees, were winners at the tournament played in three formats - scramble, better-ball and alternate shot.

“It was particularly fitting to see the overall champions come from our grass-roots programme - Cavani James, who won our junior-player qualifier earlier this year, and Tajay Lobban, a past graduate of our programme.

James was among three Care For Kids Junior Golfers who earned spots to play alongside seniors at the Golf and Jerk Festival after securing first-, second-, and third-place finishes at Sandals Foundation’s first-ever Junior Golf Tournament held April 20. Jerone Thomas, 18, and Tyree Smith, 15, were first and second runners-up to James.

“It was quite fitting to see all our hard work culminating in their victory,” Newnham said of the programme, which, in 2015, celebrated Romaine Evans, a 10-year-old spotted picking mangoes adjacent to Upton in 2010, emerging Caribbean amateur junior champion five years later.

A fundraiser benefitting the Care for Kids Junior Golf Programme and Sandals Foundation’s charities in the St Mary-St Ann region, the event also showcased the culinary skills of aspiring young chefs from the Runaway Bay HEART/NSTA Trust’s hospitality school competing in the jerk contest.

Karen Zacca, operations director, Sandals Foundation, described the Golf and Jerk Festival as “an incredible day at Upton”.

“The tournament benefitted charities and communities in the St Ann-St Mary region with its focus being youth engagement. It brought together young men and women, through the game of golf, learning life skills and transferable skills,” said Zacca.

“The jerk competition was an opportunity to engage young people studying, eventually wanting to work in hotels to be chefs. They had an opportunity to work with seasoned chefs, learning how to be part of an experienced team,” she added.

A half of the winners’ US$30,000 first prize went to providing medical equipment for the Urology Department at the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital.